Saturday, January 14, 2012

Redline introduces full carbon BMX frame

Redline Bicycles recently came out with quite the innovation in BMX frames. Redline makes all kinds of bikes; a formidable cyclocross frame, the Conquest, and a solid entry level single speed mountain bike, the Monocog and Monocog 29er. It also has a has a long history in bicycle motocross.

They recently rolled out a full carbon BMX frame called the Redline Project 79. This is a pretty big step for an industry that has a self described technology ceiling. If you can't improve on the simple yet very effective frame design, improve the materials.

Redline Project 79

The weight is the amazing factor with this frame: 1 pound 1.3 oz

Compare that with some other race frames:

Supercross Envy V2: 3 lbs 1.2 oz

GT Speed Series Race: 3 lbs 10.5 oz

Intense Podium Frame: 4 lbs

A couple noticeable features of this bike: Giant tube unions. These joints are over-sized to stiffen up the bike. A carbon frame without these considerations would have far more flex than desirable. With these over-sized connections, it's certainly expected to be stiff.

(All images used without permission)

Also, you may have noticed that the frame has closed dropouts. This means that you have to run a specific kind of hub and axle, called a 'thru axle'. This axle is 15mm, and works similar to a quick release, although much stiffer.

Thru axle on a fork

It's very exciting to see innovation from a company when BMX racing is not nearly as popular as single speeds, road or mountain. I'm stoked on Redline for stepping up and putting the r&d into something like this. Oh, and the name, Project 79? The 79th element of the Periodic chart: Gold. See you in London, Redline!